Blurred Memories
by inspibrain101
Summary: Can be read alongside "Blurr Rising." Captain America has tried to forget his war days. The pain, the horror, the joy, the adventure... Needless to say, it's painful. But it's a shame... if only he'd bother to remember, he would have a clue when it came to the Blurr! Rated for possible violence and character death. Chap 5: Cap and Bucky get to know the refugees...
1. Prologue

**A sort of prologue to Blurr Rising. You can read this alongside Blurr Rising, (though I must warn you, if you read this alone, you will be disappointed by the end.)**

**Takes place in Cap's war days. The actual Blurr will only make cameos, but this story will reveal some of Blurr's deep dark secrets.**

**Other stories featuring the Blurr:**

**Blurr Rising**

**A Blurry World**

**The Doctor's Birthdays (A Doctor Who Crossover)**

* * *

_When people ask Captain America about the War... he tries not to remember. Sure, he'll try to act suave, and fun, and interesting, throwing in a lot of "back in my day"s and '30's references, but overall, he's tried to bury it. _

_When people talk about they glory of fighting and battle and war, they never mention the killing, and the death, and the horror. _

_But he doesn't regret any of it._

_He served his country, did his best to rid the world of evil, and almost died in the end. A fulfilling life, he'd have to say._

_But it still terrifies him._

_The so many people he met on his adventures..._

_Faces no one saw..._

_Names no one will remember..._

_Deaths and screams and stories and joys and laughter and memories..._

_So he forgot._

_And it's a shame that he did, because if he bothered remembering one particular little friend, he would've had a bit of clue when it came to the Blurr..._


	2. Raid

**Just to let you guys know, I have done extensive research on Captain America's WWII days. I.E. Wikipedia.**

**I know that teachers say that you shouldn't use it, but let's be honest, where else are you going to find this information? A book? Hah!**

* * *

_August 1, 1943_

_0100 hours_

_20 days before the explosion of Pillam Gray Pass_

This romp through France wasn't seeming to go anywhere.

Cap and Bucky, along with the Howling Commandos, had basically been on a campaign of hope, helping small villages, spreading the news of the various campaigns, etc. It was only a matter of time before they received new intelligence or news from the front, and they would be back to punching Hydra soldiers and destroying super weapons, etc.

Although... seeing people's faces light up as they saw the red, white and blue, and how they clung to their farms and villages...

But there was a war going on, and Captain America was needed.

But not, it seemed, tonight.

* * *

They received news from the front: Hydra was making move, and this time, they were planning something big. Naturally, the telegram went immediately to Captain America and the Howling Commandos.

Only the telegram never reached them.

They were in a small village on the outskirts of Germany, far from the fighting, but deep in enemy territory nonetheless. Hydra had finally caught wind of the Americans' extended stay in Germany. Their response was rather prolonged... dealing with some other little issue, or something... but still swift.

Cap never did find out which of the villagers of Udenschtein was responsible for Hydra's attack, (maybe it was old man Mortimer.) He woke in the middle of the night to an uneasy feeling.

He always had this sort of intuition, the knack for waking up or turning around at just the right moment to save someone's neck. Now, he had the nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach that had often saved the lives of him and his friends. Naturally, he looked out the window of the rickety little shack the villagers had lent the soldiers.

Silent forest... Quiet, barely even a sliver of a moon to light the trees...

Wait.

A pinpoint of light. Another, and another.

Coming closer.

Eyes widening, he went up to each of his comrades, and woke them up quietly. A quick glance out the window, and they were packed within 5 minutes.

It took another half hour, another 5 miles for the coming Hydra goons, to wake the villagers and get them to safety.

It was only then that they left to deal with Hydra.

The invaders moved in formation, high-tech guns grasped in their hands.

The fighting Americans were armed with a variety of ragtag weapons and their wits.

One would like to say that it hadn't been much of a contest, that the Americans defeated the Hydra agents, intercepted a top secret message leading them straight to the Red Skull, and boom-badda-Bing, the war was over. But one would be wrong.

In reality, the invading force was nearly 100 Hydra soldiers, all with the latest weaponry. The American heroes barely escaped with their lives, and with more than a few scratches.

But in the process, Captain America and Bucky, the dynamic duo, were separated from the Howling Commandos.

In the confusion, North became East, and South was blue and the river was a triangle. Cap and Bucky went the wrong way, not to the agreed meeting place, but towards Poland.

It was there that Captain America would come in contact with a little group of German Refugees, who if he had only remembered, he might've had a clue.


	3. Fall

**So, I haven't really gotten any hits on my one-shot series, "A Blurry World" ...**

**I'm giving out some serious spoilers over there, so you might want to check that out!**

**Onto the story!**

**In which there are tree branches and pots of beans...**

* * *

The sun was still hiding when Cap ordered the retreat; a rare moment.

The Howling commandos retreated in true Howling Commando fashion, quickly and efficiently, while Cap and Bucky, in true Cap-and-Bucky fashion, went there own way. And got lost.

Not that they knew it.

In the dark, everything looks the same, it's hard to distinguish tree from rock, friend from foe, and up from down. Every black pine that whizzed past their sprint looked the same, and the sound of yelling and gunfire came from every direction.

Captain America clutched his trademark shield on one arm, and bounced between trees for cover. Bucky followed a tree or two behind him.

They had to move fast, because the Hydra goonies were still hot on their heels.

The average soldier, with the average goonies on his heels, might have an easier time of getting away.

But obviously, Cap and Bucky weren't the average soldiers, and these were certainly not the average goonies. These goonies had some new experimental night-vision goggles, likely stripped from alien technology, and still in its experimental phase. Not exactly an advantage for the dynamic duo.

Still, they earned their keep. The chase led them far, far from the howling commandos and the meeting point, nearly half a mile across the forest, along a rocky Cliffside near a tiny town in Germany called Ingleschnide. Somehow, Cap and Bucky had gained an advantage against their pursuers uphill, and had a few seconds to catch their breath.

"Did we lose 'em yet, Cap?" Bucky gasped. Cap looked down into the forest valley they had just climbed out of at the pursuing silhouettes.

Despite the grim situation, Cap smiled. "Sorry, Bucky. They just won't quit."

At the time, it seemed that that was when things went from bad to worse, but in the grand scheme of things, it was that loose rocky edge that saved their lives.

One of the things to understand about the 1940's is that while this was a time of innovation and new discovery, it was also that tricky period, where the world had one foot in the Electronic age and the other in the Colonial. While in the larger cities like London and Berlin and New York, you would find cars and cinemas and indoor plumbing, in these backwater towns and mountain villages, candles were used for light, and farming and sheep herding was a way of life.

Ingleschnide wasn't exactly a town, but more of a collection of inns and taverns, a few blacksmith shops and peddler's wagons. A pit stop for all sorts of gypsies, travelers, soldiers, and the occasional refugees or Jewish escapees, or a place for the bums and beggars of the surrounding provinces to conduct their shadier business transactions and drink away their sorrows. But everyone who lived within 30 miles of the place knew three things for certain: the sky was blue, the red faced tapster at Briar Bush inn watered down the whiskey, and you should never walk along the cliff sides at night.

Bucky put too much weight on the wrong rock, and the thin shelf crumbled, taking him down.

"Bucky!" Cap called, as he reached for his friend. But he was too late, and instead fell after him.

The Hydra goonies continued running around the forest, and briefly checked the cliffs, but found no sign of their quarry.

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the cliff, and old man, a soldier who'd lost his left leg in the great war, hobbled along, looking for fish before the sun came up, stumbled across two men, both injured, and somehow, still alive.

"Welp," the man shrugged his cane. "Better get these two boys some help."

* * *

Steve Rogers woke with a pounding in his head. He wasn't aware of much: just the pain in his head, and the rough blanket over his body.

He didn't dare open his eyes just yet. _"Fudge," he thought. "I might've been captured by Hydra- or dead?"_

He wiggled a toe. Nope, not dead.

Slowly, so as not to alert any guards who might be nearby, he opened one eye.

Along with sight, he suddenly regained his sense of smell. It smelled dank and damp.

There wasn't much light, but the smell was enough to let him know he was safe. A secret army base or a megalomaniac's lair could smell like any number of things- some rich spice from Japan, old paper, electric charge, or the slime of science. But his enemies' lairs were never damp. They were all much to vain and rich for that.

So he wasn't captured by HYDRA, or the Red Skull. He could still be in the hands of bandits, or mercenaries, or-

"Why does he wear the red, white, and blue?" A child giggled.

"Because he's Captain America, silly!" Another child retorted.

He was safe. No bandit or mercenary would drag children into their business, no matter how desperate. He sat up.

* * *

**Just out of curiosity, how many of you are reading this along with my other Blurr stories? Or are you just reading to hear about Cap's war days? 'Cause both motives are commendable!**


	4. Cave

It was, in fact, a dank cave, poorly lit, and clearly hadn't been lived in for very long.

Four children, two girls and two boys, had been watching him, as any child would. A strange man dressed in the colors of a foreign country, sleeping on the couch? Curiosity abound!

There were five other people he could vaguely make out in the poor light, all adults. He sat up groggily, eyes adjusting to the lantern light.

Four children; a nine year old girl, an eight year old boy, a five year old boy, and a three year old girl. The nine, five, and three year olds were clearly Jewish, their features betraying them. He had heard rumors of Jewish persecution in Germany, but some of the rumors were simply too wild to be true. Things like death camps, and genocide. The eight year old seemed to have no relation to them. They all stared up at him with wide, puppy eyes, awestruck by the strange soldier.

Cap glanced over his shoulder to see Bucky, still asleep, in a similar cot. He became aware of a pain in his head. He reached up, and felt a bandage. Then he realized that they had taken off his mask- whoever 'they' were. Oh well, the mask was more for show than anything else. He didn't really have anyone to protect at home, no family, and all his friends were here in Germany, fighting.

His eyes finally adjusted to the dim light, and he could make out his elder hosts.

There was an old man with one leg in a battered uniform from the Great War. He sat on a rock, playing cards with a young man, about 18, who had the same blonde hair and almond shaped brown eyes as the eight year old boy. He wore a patched coat, comfortable walking shoes, and suspenders over a plain shirt and trousers.

A Jewish man, perhaps the father of the three Jewish children, was looking through a damp newspaper, mostly at the war articles. A Jewish woman, likely his wife and the mother of the children, held a sleeping baby, and rocked it as she sat on a rock by the fire, keeping warm.

By the campfire, a person in a grayish brown cloak stirred something in a pot over the fire. She looked up, and the hood fell away from her head, revealing a young girl, no older than 15, doe-eyed and copper-haired.

The adults looked up at their visitor, surprised to find him awake so soon. They all looked at him fearfully, not sure what to make of him.

The Jewish man folded his newspaper and set it down, leaning forward, his hands resting on his knees. "Are you all right?" he asked in German.

Cap winced as he felt his head. "Yeah, I think so." his German wasn't fluent, but he could speak it well. Handy when you're trapped in Germany. "Who are you?" he asked.

The blonde haired boy tugged on his sleeve. "Are you really Captain America?" he asked with wide eyes.

Warily, the super-soldier nodded. These people were all German. Why were they happy he, of all people, was here?

The woman with the dark-haired baby gasped, a hand flying to her mouth.

The old man playing cards looked up with narrowed eyes, and the young man jumped up.

The cloaked girl's eyes widened, and when the baby started crying, went to the mother and took the baby. She reached for her husband's hand.

The children took the news a lot better than the older folk, bouncing on their feet, asking him about his adventures. Inwardly, he groaned. He never should've signed up for that propaganda film campaign. The comic books, too.

The jewish woman walked up to the children and scooted them away from the injured soldier. "Hush now, don't bother the poor Captain. He needs some rest." The children complied, but an eager light shined in their eyes.

Cap looked around at the ragtag group of people. "Where am I? Who are you?"

The old man in the uniform huffed. "I suppose we're what you call refugees."

The young man in the old coat nodded. "Skipps here found you and your friend unconscious at the bottom of the ravine. Figured if the green guys find you, they'll find us."

Cap nodded, gratefully. "Thank you."

The mother was shaking. "Are you really Captain America?"

Cap shifted uncomfortably. "Last I checked, yeah."

"But... but I thought they were just stories..." she turned and looked at the teenage girl, who looked down at the ground, the baby since quelled.

Her husband laid a hand on her arm gently. "It's okay, Bertha. He's just fooling." he looked at Steve sharply. "Aren't you? Just joking, yeah? Having a good laugh?"

Cap furrowed his eyebrows. At least they hadn't seen the propaganda films. "What do you mean a joke?"

The dark haired baby had started fussing again, and the cloaked girl rocked him gently, moving away from the warm flames of the fire.

The old man snorted. "Captain America is just a story. Maria tells the young ones little fairy tales. That's all Captain America is, a fairy tale."

Figures, people in Germany wouldn't have heard of Captain America.

"So who are you?" All eyes, even the children's, were fixed on him. "I'm-"

Suddenly, the Father's ears seemed to perk up. There was silence. Then through the silence cut the sound of plane engines.

"Make yourselves scarce!" he hissed to the children!

The mother took her baby from the girl, who herded the children to a corner of the cave and beckoned them to be silent.

The young man took a bucket of water and tossed it onto the campfire, and the mother blew out the lantern.

The old cripple and the father helped Steve out of the cot, and helped him to carry the still unconscious Bucky to where the children were waiting.

He accidentally bumped Bucky's head against a low-hanging stalactite, waking him up immediately. "What the? Cap! Where-" he covered Bucky's mouth immediately. He had been in a few air raids to know when it was a bad idea to start making noises. Bucky's eyes widened when he saw the refugees, realizing the sort of situation they were in.

They huddled in the dark, listening to the engines pass overhead. Then they were gone. Steve released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Bucky released his grip on his arm.

The planes could still be heard off in the distance. One of the little girls, the younger one, pulled on her mother's sleeve. "What about Kat? She said she was going to the village-"

"Hush, Rebecca. I'm sure Katherine's fine. She knows how to take care of herself."

There was silence again.

It was a good ten minutes before Skipps, the one-legged veteran, gave the all clear. "I think they're gone."

They all timidly stood up and walked back towards the mouth of the cave, Bucky half limping alongside Cap.

The cloaked girl walked up to the stew pot, worried it might have gone cold. She stirred it up a bit, tasted it, and nodded.

"Soups on!" the blonde-haired man said happily.


	5. Wait

**Here's Chapter 5... **

**Caution: Time skip. Do not complain.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything accept my OC's, the refugees. And maybe a few bad guys.**

* * *

_August 9, 1943_

_12 days before the explosion of Pillam Gray Pass..._

_1 week later..._

They had chatted over a dinner of stewed beans that first night, and exchanged names. Bucky was still Bucky, if Bucky with a limp, but Cap had eventually decided to stick with his birth name, Steven Rogers. Because, apparently, the idea that he was Captain America was preposterous!

The Jewish parents were Bertha and Frederick Schultz, Germans who were on the run with their family from the nazis. Steve was shocked to hear some of the rumors they had heard about what was going on in the German concentration camps... the Schultz weren't sure if they were true, but they hated what the Nazis were doing. They had taken their children, packed a few possessions and provisions, and gone on the run, in hopes of eventually reaching England, or even America. Bertha was a lovely woman, caring, motherly, resourceful. It was clear that Frederick cared deeply about his family, immediate and adopted, and had assumed somewhat a role of leadership in the little group. They had four children: The baby, Samuel, the two girls, Anne and Patty, and a boy, Yolan.

The old one-legged man was Sigmund Heggan, or 'Skipps,' as they called him. He was, indeed, a soldier in the Great War, and his leg had been lost in the bloodshed. His niece, Katherine, was helping the whole group get onto a charter plane to New York. He and his niece, 'Wildcat,' he called her, had allegedly undergone at least a dozen successful missions, smuggling refugees from out of Germany. He said that by this point, they only had about 2 weeks 'til they reached the aircraft yard in Switzerland, if they didn't run into trouble with the Germans.

The young man, Alexander Cloppen, and his eight-year-old brother, Fritz, were also German refugees. Their parents had died from cholera a few years before leaving 17-year-old Alex to look after Fritz. When the war rolled around and their neighbors started disappearing, Alex realized that Germany was the last place he could keep Fritz safe, and was determined to get the both of them to America.

Maria, so far as Steve knew, was an orphan, with no relation to the others. Bertha had told him that before her family had met up with the Cloppens and the Heggans, they had been hiding in the woods for a week when Maria stumbled into their camp. She was 14 years old, frightfully small, but surprisingly strong. She hardly spoke at all, and alway wore her cloak and a leather satchel. Maria had taken to the Schultz immediately, helping to care for the younger children, and when they had joined groups with the others, Maria took a liking to them, as well.

They were a ragged lot, getting by on food that Katherine, whom Steve had yet to meet, managed to buy cheap from small villages.

During the next week, he and Bucky had helped the struggling refugees whilst recuperating. Who knew falling from a cliff could cause so much damage? He thought that if he and Bucky were to leave for their comrades right now, they might make it, but they would more than likely fall into a relapse. And, if he were being even half honest with himself, he had become attached to these refugees- even if they were German- and wanted to see them through, at least until they got to Switzerland.

Every day, they went about their business, mending clothes, cooking food sparingly. The two girls were given a raggedy doll that they lovingly played with and caressed, and the boys played with a bag of marbles.

There was a lot of hushed chatter in the cave. They were always sure never to talk too loudly in case of anybody nearby that might eavesdrop.

Bertha helped Skipps clean his cane, and he told her some about his family back home. Alex came around with the pot of beans at noon, and dished people up some in small bowls. They were pretty good beans, if plain.

Maria was patching up the childrens' coats, which had become torn, and a little small. She diligently allowed growing room as she sewed dirty-colored patches on to the sleeves and back. At some point, Frederick came around, and sat next to her. He continually asked her how her day went (fine) how the sewing was coming along, (fine,) how the kids were, (fine,) if she had any particular plans when they got to America, (shrug.)

The children swarmed him constantly, asking him questions about the red skull and Hydra and how he beat up the bad guys... some of them he hadn't even heard of! He asked Bertha about it later.

"Oh, stories Maria told them to make their eyes wide... how she heard of them, I have no idea, she's not much of a talker."

Anne and Patti were little imps, whispering and giggling to each other, playing their pretend games. Fritz tried so hard to be like the older men, acting grown up, imitating their mannerisms, and Yolan followed after him like a lost puppy.

Every night, the cave grew cold, and they were only allowed a small fire to keep warm, in case of Germans. "We haven't messed up a run yet, and we don't plan on it!" Skipps insisted. Sometimes, he bordered on paranoia. Every tree branch, Germans! Every squirrel, Nazi raiders!

The Schultz kids bundled together in a burlap blanket, and their parents and the baby had a straw shift. Fritz and Alex kept each other warm under a thick flannel blanket, while Maria stuck close to Skipps under a dirty quilt. Cap and Bucky were given the low-lying cots they had awoken in.

Things went on like this for about a week before Cap finally had to ask. "Why are we staying around here? If we're going to America, we have to get moving! We're still in Germany!"

Skipps smiled, noting that the strange young man had said 'we.' "Well, Steve, we're waiting still for my niece, Kat. 'nless she gets back in two days, we stay here. She's the one out watching for German troops and the like. If she's not back within a week, we bolt. That's how it works. She's always back within a week."

Steve nodded, understanding. It seemed like a solid system, who was he to argue?

So the next day, when 'Wildcat' didn't show up, Skipps began to worry.


End file.
